categories

book review: all-star superman volume 1

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman is a good Superman book. I mean, it doesn’t shy from the craziness of Superman. He’s lifting quadrillions of tonnes and flying into the sun and yawning his way through arm-wrestling matches with other superheroes (in a story about giving Lois Lane super powers that felt more than a little condescending towards women) and doing interviews with Lex Luthor (as Clark Kent) and slowly dying.

I think the best part of this book is how the differences between Superman and Clark Kent are visually represented. They’re both huge but Kent looks flabby and Superman looks like Superman. It’s really well done. I like Grant Morrison’s weirdness so the writing was fine. It really brought out the silliness in some of the Superman conceits while taking them seriously.